Six women among nine dead in Ghana Eid party stampede

An official says three bodies have been identified so far and six people sustained injuries

ACCRA, GHANA: Nine people were killed in a stampede at a Eid party in central Ghana, a public official told reporters on Thursday.

"We so far have nine people who are dead, six females and three males," said Nurudeen Hamidan, the head of the Asokore Mampong municipal assembly, in the city of Kumasi.

There was no immediate comment from the police in the city, which is 255km northwest of the capital, Accra.

But Hamidan said three bodies have been identified so far and six people were injured, one of them critically, and were receiving treatment in hospital.

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The party was organised on Wednesday at a community centre in the Asawase area of Kumasi as the climax to the Eidul Fitr festival.

Local member of parliament Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka said carnivals were often held to celebrate the occasion but in the past have been marked by clashes between youths.

Organisers had told police the carnival would end by 9pm (2100 GMT) and a group, thought to number about 300, moved to the community centre, where a fight reportedly broke out, he added.

"In a bid for people to rush out... there was this stampede," said Muntaka, from President John Dramani Mahama's National Democratic Congress.

But Hamidan said there were conflicting reports about the cause of the tragedy and a security meeting had been called for Thursday afternoon to determine what happened.